What would we do without the commercialized holidays? Just as Thanksgiving was approaching, I started seeing Christmas merchandise and hearing jingles all around me - at the supermarket, drug store, and mall. Our lives and activities revolve around the scheduled holidays. Most people follow the created traditions of the holidays. We spend more than we should and could afford, usually buying unwanted and inappropriate gifts. I love gifts. Nonetheless, I see the impulse to spend unnecessarily during the holidays, just because we have been programmed to over the years by billions of marketing dollars. We have become slaves to our possessions. Often, we give of things, rather than from the heart.

Christmas isn't here yet, but it is fast approaching. On my walk, I saw Christmas lights being thrown out. It was unexpected. I don't usually see that until after the holidays, when it's uncool to still hang the lights on our windows and dead trees. The sadder sight for me would be to see the tossed out, dried-up Christmas trees. Every year they laid on the ground by the curb like corpses awaiting the garbage truck. They are the saddest sight. Why do we sacrifice living trees for our amusement? What does it all mean anyway?